Upcoming Comics: November 21st, 2012

Joker comes after Selina Kyle, Nightwing must stop Lady Shiva, and the Justice League battles the apparently invincible Cheetah in this week’s upcoming comics! Of course Red Hood & the Outlaws, Batwoman, and Birds of Prey are coming out this week as well but I typically don’t review those since they are fringe bat-titles. However, Red Hood & the Outlaws may tie in to Death of the Family somewhat in this issue and if it does, I’ll review it. And as for Batwoman, well I’m thinking about catching up on that title and adding it back to the review rotation soon. I’m considering dropping Batwing to keep the review list at a manageable size.

Here’s a list of all the Batman comics coming out this week, November 21st, graded on a scale of my own anticipation.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and post in the comments section what books you’re most looking forward to this week!

November 21st

CATWOMAN #14

Written by ANN NOCENTI

Art by RAFA SANDOVAL and JORDI TARROGONA

Cover by TREVOR McCARTHY

32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

Anticipation Level: None.

I hope this series gets better quick because the last two issues were terrible. We have a Death of the Family tie-in this time around and even that fails to excite me. The only thing I’m curious to see here is an explanation as to why Joker would go after Catwoman, it’s not like she’s really a strong ally of Batman. So far in the New 52 the most she and Batman ever cooperated was the time they banged on a rooftop in issue #1.

NIGHTWING #14

Written by TOM DeFALCO

Art by ANDRES GUINALDO and MARK IRWIN

Cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA

32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Anticipation Level: Eh…meh.

This issue is the conclusion to the rather short 2-part Lady Shiva tale by fill-in writer Tom DeFalco. Shiva didn’t even show up until the final page and the rest of the comic was nothing but page after page of characters dreading her arrival. It simply feels like this story is filler and won’t go anywhere at all. In all likelihood it will end with Lady Shiva escaping and no resolution (so that we can get a real story arc featuring her after Death of the Family wraps) followed by a surprise cliffhanger featuring the Joker.

Justice League #14

Written by GEOFF JOHNS

Art by TONY S. DANIEL

32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Anticipation Level: Eh…meh.

So it took me a minute to think back and recall what exactly happened in the last issue of Justice League and the it hit me– Oh yeah! The entire team got their butts kicked by Cheetah. That’s right, they were in the jungle and Cheetah jumped out of a bush and mopped the floor with every single super hero in her sight. It seemed pretty ridiculous to me, like DC was trying too hard to make Cheetah a more well known and formidable villain. We’ll see how it goes and maybe we’ll get more hints as to what Trinity War is all about.

Graphic Novel Watch!

Only one Batman graphic novel comes out this week and it’s the Batman/Judge Dredd Collection Hard Cover. I don’t know much about Judge Dredd (I haven’t even seen the new movie) so I’m interested in checking this out since I’ve always heard great things about how the Stallone movie ruined what a great character Dredd really is. Could be cool. This large, $30 book contains BATMAN/JUDGE DREDD: JUDGMENT ON GOTHAM, BATMAN/JUDGE DREDD: VENDETTA IN GOTHAM, BATMAN/JUDGE DREDD: THE ULTIMATE RIDDLE, BATMAN/JUDGE DREDD: DIE LAUGHING #1-2 and LOBO/JUDGE DREDD: PSYCHO BIKERS VS. MUTANTS FROM HELL. Wow. Sounds like a lot, I had no idea that these guys teamed up so much.